I had a little work to do on a Hockey News assignment so I headed out to Sharks Ice today for a quick interview or two. I knew some players would be around for the informal practices traditionally known as captain’s skates and figured it was a good time to get caught up on a few things. The captaincy was on my checklist.

I asked McLellan about it and he prefaced his answer by saying that questions about leadership and team mental toughness are being asked and addressed.

“Does that fall onto one guy’s shoulder, the guy wearing the C? No. It’s a collective thing and it starts with me at a coach.”

With that said, McLellan went on to note that changes were in store.

“Who will be our captain? Who will be our assistants? At this point I can’t give you that answer?

You can’t or you won’t?

“I won’t and I can’t,” McLellan said. “I want to see who’s stepping up to the front. When training camp starts on Sept. 12, you may walk into my office and say who’s your captain and I’ll probably tell you I’ll let you know when we know.

“At this point, nobody’s our captain,” he said. “We don’t have assistant captains. The discussion is ongoing and when we determine that, then we’ll make those announcements.”

McLellan would not totally rule out the possibility of the C ending up back with Marleau, who has worn it since January 2004. But it has been made pretty clear for weeks now that the front office and/or coaching staff wanted a change after the first-round playoff exit in Anaheim. It’s hard to see how giving the C back to Marleau would make any sense.

“Again, I have to stress that by no means is (leadership) one man’s responsibility,” McLellan said. “The accountability and the drive has to come from multiple sources, not just one guy wearing the ‘C.’

“We’ll see as it evolves,” the coach added. “I can walk around town and everybody’s giving me a suggestion. We can talk about it internally – everybody has an opinion. I believe it’ll sort itself out and they’ll tell us who the captains are when they start showing up and start working. I have a good idea of who I think the potential guys will be, but we still have to see it.”

And, no, he wouldn’t pass along those names.

Defenseman Dan Boyle — a pretty obvious candidate to replace Marleau as captain — was there Monday and I had asked him earlier if he knew anything about a change in the captaincy. “Only what my mother tells me,” he said, adding that she keeps up on all the off-season rumors.

I tried reaching Marleau today but failed. However, a month ago he indicated that he was willing to give up the captaincy if the higher-ups thought that would benefit the team. Sharks GM Doug Wilson also said he would be involved in any decision on the captaincy — something that hasn’t always been true in the past.

“We’ve discussed some things and I’m waiting to see how that unfolds,” he said. “But I’ve told Doug that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get this team to the next level.”

*****Sharks who showed up for today’s unofficial “practice” were Boyle, Joe Thornton, Evgeni Nabokov, Devin Setoguchi, Brad Lukowich, Jody Shelley and Scott Nichol. Other NHL players who call San Jose home in the off season also took part — Owen Nolan, Brad Stuart and Viktor Tikhonov.

*****Some dates to circle on the calendar as training camp approaches:

9/5 — Rookies report.

9/7-9 — Three games at Sharks Ice between San Jose prospects and Anaheim prospects.

9/13 — Veterans on the ice for the first day of training camp.

*****In case anybody needed a refresher course on which players won’t be around next season, their sticks were leaning up against the wall between the locker room and players’ lounge at the practice rink: Semenov, Plihal, Goc, Moen, Kaspar, Boucher and Styles. Styles, of course, is Jeremy Roenick’s nickname and his stash of 19 sticks was the largest. Mike Grier must’ve stopped by earlier in the summer and grabbed whatever remained of his sticks.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.